Romanians in Brussels on the evolution of Romania

According to Romanian experts involved in various activities in “Euro Brussels”, nearly six years after Romania joined the EU, Romania has evolved, but there are still many inefficiencies and abnormalities.

With great pleasure, I recently had the opportunity to host on the “House of Europe” blog the thoughts of several Romanian friends in Brussels, who are experts in European affairs, about the evolution of Romania's EU membership and its European potential.

 
Like I have mentioned on other occasions, Romania must go beyond simply being a Member State: it needs to defend and to exercise its rights, and to uphold national interests in the European decision making process.

To do this, in the words of Raul Rădoi, coordinator of GrupRomania, there must first be awareness of the policies, legislation and processes that the European capital exists of, as well as the public and private sector involvement. In addition, there needs to be an awareness of Romania’s involvement in shaping regulations and directives in accordance with its interests, all in an evolutionary manner.

Romania needs many more measures in order to develop the country’s image, but lobbying still has negative connotations, which is totally wrong. As 75% of national law is established in Brussels, there is insufficient presence of Romanian companies in Brussels, stated by Stefan Morcov, Vice President SIVECO Romania.

If regions and cities in Romania would be much better represented here, people could find "live news" on possible partnerships, about available European funds, as well as crucial effects on legislative procedures, as suggested by Andreea Per. As regards to private companies in Romania, they need to know about the new regulations that may affect their work, before being transposed into national law. Not only because they then have a chance to actively participate in creating the law, but also because the companies can anticipate and plan their medium and long term strategies.

As suggested by Raluca Anghel, who works for a multinational in Brussels, another potential growth for Romania is investing in research and innovation, with results that have direct impact on productivity and competitiveness in strategic areas.

With the experience gained as press correspondent in Brussels, Magdalena Moreh points out that there are very many areas of interest, most of them covering small issues, which either do not count at all or are subjects that we are not able to bring forward.

Even though some readers believe that Romania is at the very edge of a precipice, Raluca Anghel believes that in the future, a person searching for information about Romania might find the following result: "A democratic parliamentary republic located in Eastern Europe, characterized by: innovation and technological advancement, economic prosperity, high employment, an education system that works effectively, competitive private sector, strong international trade and diplomacy, and a major player in the European Union".

Dan LUCA / Brussels